Fermented Strawberry Rhubarb Soda – Fermented with Wild Yeast

Fermenting with Wild Yeast

It’s spring and that means rhubarb and strawberries, a classic combination. Turn these fruits into fermented strawberry rhubarb soda and you have a real treat!

I love refreshing fermented sodas like root beer and ginger ale. But since I’ve learned to ferment with wild yeast, I may not go back to my former ways of fermenting soda and other beverages like lemonade. Wild fermentation is so much easier than keeping a ginger bug active, and a plus for those who can’t use whey which is a dairy product.

I learned to make beverages using wild fermentation from Pascal Bauder’s book The New Wildcrafted Cuisine. My recipe forpine needle and raspberry soda was inspired by that book. It’s really an amazing beverage and I love that it uses something I can forage even in the middle of winter.

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Wild Yeast From Raw Honey

The source of the wild yeast in this recipe is raw honey, so be sure not to use pasteurized honey because it will not contain the wild yeast.

Yeasts don’t normally reproduce in honey because the moisture content is relatively low, but as soon as you add water they will begin to reproduce and ferment your strawberry and rhubarb soda. You’e gonna’ love the refreshing fizz!

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Comments

Hi, ,,.I’ve done the strawberries and rhubarb fermentation and it didn’t ferment at all. It’s been 5 day and nothing has happened. I did exactly what was written in the recipe and I haven’t succeeded. Could you tell me what I’ve could have done wrong. Thanks Marguerite

Hi Marguerite, that’s certainly a disappointment. Here are the things I would check – is your honey truly raw? Was it added before the water cooled completely? Some sellers claim that their honey is raw when it isn’t and that is where the wild yeast comes from to ferment this. Also, if the water is still warm, it may kill the yeast, even if the honey is raw. Some other things to consider – if your container is not perfectly clean, that could cause a problem with the fermentation. And if your fruit is not organic, pesticides or herbicides could affect the fermentation. I hope that helps.